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The Big Bang Promo

Melissa Molina — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 00:21:45 +0000

Amongst the world of movies we all try to break away and at least catch up on some form of television. Whether that would be reality TV shows, hardcore dramas or lighthearted comedies, each one of us has our preference. We delve into the lighthearted comedy as the season premiere of the hit TV show The Big Bang Theory jumps onto television screens tonight. What better way to get you into it, or get you introduced to the show, is a couple of questions from this year’s San Diego Comic-Con I got to ask and a clip from the upcoming season.

I was able to sit down at a roundtable interview with co-creator Bill Prady as he dived right into what would be, or not be happening, in upcoming seasons. He touched upon whether or not Leonard and Penny will finally get together (its still a mystery), to Sheldon ever maintaining an actual relationship with a girlfriend (he’s too in love with his work), to these hardcore geeks making a trip to Comic-Con:

Melissa: Is there any chance that we’ll be able to see the guys trek over to Comic-Con?

Bill Prady: We were just talking about it and it turns out to be technically impossible because we can’t shoot over here at the real Comic-Con and if we did a mock Comic-Con it wouldn’t be like the real thing. So we just can’t do it, but we want to. We keep on talking about it with them (the studio) but I would like to. Last year, we said “Oh let’s definitely do it” but we couldn’t.

Afterwards actor Kunal Nayyar plopped down at our table and started going off about how it is being part of the cast, getting picked up for two more years, and a nice little question I threw out at him:

Melissa: What do you like the most about being Raj?

Kunal Nayyar: Raj really gets to see the world with innocent eyes. He has no malice in his heart, and I think that’s what the unique thing is that I don’t think any of these characters have. There’s no trechery, they really have a innate love for each other and for the world you know and they’re just really good people and that’s the beauty of playing him. I’ve seen so much of my life with him and its really lovely to see the world through his eyes.

Please enjoy the clip below (courtesy of CBS) of Season 3 and tune in 9:30/8:30c for the full episode!

Interview Time: Mark Fienberg

Melissa Molina — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 21:50:17 +0000

With the recent release of Play The Game out in theaters scattered across the nation, I was able to talk to the writer and director of the independent comedy, Mark Fienberg.

Melissa: When it comes to creating David (Paul Campbell), how did you do it? Is there any sort of inspiration you drew from a family member, yourself or somebody?

Fienberg: Well, David as the ladies man was probably the ladies man that I hoped I would be someday, but not necessarily the ladies man I am. You know, all of the dirty tricks that you learn through the movie were deifnitely things that my friends and I developed when I was single. They always seemed to work with them but never worked for me so I didn’t know what I was doing wrong. The character, I think, is more of the guy that I dreamed about being than what I actually was. I know several women in Chicago who would vouch for me back in my single days.

Melissa: When it comes to the five steps, he follows religiously throughout the movie, have you or anyone else that you know try to use the five steps?

Fienberg: We have! We tried those five steps on some girls, do that sort of thing. We kind of exaggerated the situations out, more for the movie, and we tried it before and it definitely worked. If you studied social psychology you kind of learn that there’s scientific truth practiced sometimes when people want only what they can’t have and the grass is always greener and they all play into the way were genetically programmed. That’s what those five steps talk about and I used them in my own life. The one that I used that worked was when I ran into this person and I literally drove three hours to go, knock on her door and made up some excuse for why I happened to be in town and it turns up I ended up marrying that woman so it worked out in the end.

Melissa: That’s perfect! What was it like working with stars like Liz Sheridan, Andy Griffith and Doris Roberts?

Fienberg: It was fantastic. I’m a first time director, so this is my first movie ever. So working on a movie with these actors like Andy, Doris and Liz, it was just fantastic. It was also nerve wracking in a sense that who am I to direct these people. They were just fantastic and as it turns out, there’s a saying in Hollywood that the half of directing is the casting process and I found that to be true. Meaning that after making a casting decision like that, the hardest thing for me as a director was just to get out of their way and let them do their thing.

Melissa: What was your most memorable time during the filming of Play The Game?

Fienberg: The most memorable time…I would have to say when we did the bedroom scene. It was a funny scene to shoot, but it also ended up on a scary note. I mean Liz Sheridan was wearing a red silk nightgown and my crew put some silk sheets on the bed without telling me. It made it very slippery and as she was lying down on it while we were shooting. Then she started to slide off the bed and I had to run and catch her. Yea, I say to this day that I saved her life.

Melissa: For all those who haven’t seen it yet, what should they expect out of the film?

Fienberg: Well I think they should expect comedy and the other thing I think they would get out of it is that they should expect to learn a little bit on a few tricks on how to pick up that guy or pick up the girl and that’s what I think younger kids get out of itot they work on it as an inter-generational Hitch, like that movie with Will Smith. But learning a few dating tricks and the audience it shows how it reflects on them in real life with being lonely and being in love and companionship just like the rest of us and yes, even sex so we didn’t pull any punches when it came to that. That’s the way things are in real life, the deep dark secret that none of us really want to confront, cause it is uncomfortable thinking about it, but older people have sex. So that’s one of the things we wanted to show in the movie.

Melissa: Yeah, you certainly did.

Fienberg: Yea, you know and it made people uncomfortable and that’s kind of the point. You know that my grandfather was the inspiration for the role of Joe (Andy Griffith). He started dating again when he was eighty years old and he came to me for dating advice and I admit, it made me a little bit uncomfortable hearing the details of his love life. It certainly wasn’t something I wanted to think about, but it was also really cute and nice, touching and endearing to see someone at that age get back into the dating world to look for a companion. So I thought that was kind of sweet.

Melissa: Derailing a little, could you tell us a little about your upcoming projects?

Fienberg: Sure. I have two other independent films that I’m already working on, one of which I am halfway through raising the money. There’s a bigger budget film that one of the studios is interested in and I’m getting interest now as a television and commercial director. I’m getting offers to direct television commercials because of my business background. I have an MBA, which is kind of unique for a director out here in Hollywood.

Well, I know that Play The Game is out in selected theaters right now and has already gotten a wider release. I’m looking forward to see how everyone else likes it.

Play The Game Review

YouView: Keep On Loving WATCHMEN

Philip Barrett — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 19:24:12 +0000

The more I watch Watchmen, the more I ponder how hilarious my turn on the film was. One year ago I cursed Zack Snyder’s name as I didn’t feel he had the ability to tackle a property I so desperately love (to be fair though, I was against anyone doing it, not just him.) Five minutes into the film, I married it, then went on to see it five more times in theaters and IMAX. At this date, I can’t stop watching the movie and marvel at what it was able to accomplish. It’s not a perfect film, but it did what it needed to in being arguably the best comic book adaptation and showing Zack Snyder can handle pieces that have little action.

The director’s cut of the film releases to the masses Tuesday, and general consensus is that it’s the stronger cut. I hope, but Watchmen was never going to be a film that the general audience would love anyway. In honor of that my pals, my friends, my good chums Ilya Albert and Max Bellamy have unleashed a video professing their love for the movie. The only thing missing is a giant kiss Ilya could lay on the poster, but it’s still a hilarious fan-made trailer for one of the year’s best films. Looking back on it, I wish I had recorded the arguments I had with them where I told them “they didn’t get it” or “suddenly, they’re the world’s biggest Watchmen fans.” Guess who looks like the jackass now?

The video can be seen below. Look for my review of the Director’s Cut Tuesday:

Paramount loses $123 m in Q1 09, looks to get back on track with success of Star Trek

Matt — Thu, 28 May 2009 20:33:43 +0000

Paramount is shifting it’s focus to franchise films & more control over it’s slate in hopes to generate profits. Investors were particularly pleased with the success of Star Trek although Paramount remains in the red with losses of $123 million in the first quarter of 2009 alone. “We weren’t in control of our release slate fully. We don’t want to be in a position where are our big motion pictures are offset by smaller less successful films”. Viacom CEO Philippe Duaman told Wall Streeters on Wednesday. Star Trek already has a sequel greenlit and other big upcoming releases were mentioned such as “Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen”, “G.I. Joe: Rise Of The Cobra”, and mentioned a title from Dreamworks Animation which will start putting out 3 movies a year instead of 2 (Viacom distributes their animation films) It was also noted that costs have been cut by $50m a year. The company has had a strong showing in 2008 & 2009 and a distribution deal with Epix, a new channel created by Viacom is being sought after.

The Negatives: Salvation

Melissa Molina — Sun, 24 May 2009 06:37:54 +0000

After quite a hiatus, the weekly satirical comic strip on the latest and greatest of this past week, The Negatives, has risen again. Gracing its way back onto Atomic Popcorn, the latest creation centers around Terminator: Salvation, the most recent Warner Bros film that has been catching quite some attention. You take a look at it yourself and see how it fares out.

Keep an eye on this and other exclusive pieces and more only here on Atomic Popcorn!

Atomically Awesome Apparel

Melissa Molina — Tue, 12 May 2009 05:35:56 +0000

Do you love this site? Do you love t-shirts? Do you love…thongs? Well, if you want to flaunt it off that you even are an avid fan of the site and then some, go obsessive crazy fun on us and nab one of the official Atomic Popcorn pieces of apparel at The Store! We’ve got bumper stickers, water bottles, even cute little outfits for the toddlers who don’t even know what an internet is (awww). Well don’t be a scaredy cat anymore, click on the big t-shirt and snatch away some stuff today.

Want more things? If your talking about clothing, go and buy it already. If your talking about news, reviews and other such strangely informative happenings, keep yourself glued here on Atomic Popcorn!

The Negatives: 17 Yet Again

Melissa Molina — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 13:44:04 +0000

This week’s installment of The Negatives is in heavy reference to the Zac Efron starring comedy, 17 Again. Re-enacting a ’scene’ from one of the scenes from the actual movie with my own little twist on how it could have gone. This scene revolves around when Matthew Perry’s character in the film is super regretful being in his high school wanting to re-live the glory days, and eventually getting his wish. Look below at the latest comic strip and leave some love for this piece.

Check out the Negatives below and make sure you tell us what you think!!

The Negatives, Fast & Furious Style

Melissa Molina — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 23:05:19 +0000

Roaring back in is the latest comic coming from The Negatives. This one circles around the newly released Fast & Furious 4 (which broke the bank this weekend) and its impression on young audiences. Special appearance from one of our favorite directors, Michael Bay (aka Explodo). Read on!

Like what you saw? Want to suggest something in the future for us to sketch out? Leave some love, a comment or two and let us know!